10.18.2006

1st Annual Fall Fashion/Summer T-shirt Wrap-Up

Whether you are for hypebeast or anti-hypebeast you have no doubt noticed the alarming trend in boutique streetwear, which is that the images of our very own treasured Association have become money in the bank for designers. We can draw our own conclusions as what the root of this trend is, or as to why this hasn't happened sooner--as you will see below, most of these images commemorate the mid-90s Bulls vs. Knicks years--but the bigger question is whether or not we should be concerned. That is, every great fashion trend is ultimately destined to die, so I must extract papercuts thumbing furiously through the pages of Complex magazine, shouting to the heavens, "CAN A LEAGUE OF STYLE GO OUT OF STYLE." Please help me pacify these worries, as we take stock of a sampling of designs that have bursted on to the scene in the last 12 months or so. And while I'm not going to be biting my tongue while dishing out my opinions, any designers reading this can hit us up at freedarko@gmail.com if they want to give us free gear. Oh, and did someone say the brand new FREEDARKO SHIRT IS IMMANENTLY ON THE WAY??!?! it wasn't me...

L&D seem to be the brand of the moment right now, and are definitely one of my favorites. They produce in small quantities, and sell out immediately all over the place (try finding the L&D Ghostface t-shirt ANYWHERE). While the Starks-dunk is creative, my favorite of this sampling is the Georgetown Iverson joint. Brings me back to a simpler time:

Quite simply THE spot in Chicago to pick up shoes and gear. As I've probably said way too many times in real life and on this blog, I once saw Eddy Curry at this spot back when they were located in Hyde Park. Leaders flips the NY/Bulls idea, with this shadow graphic of Pippen dunking on Ewing--a much more canonical dunk in my opinion, and a dunk that I believe Shaq called one of the top three dunks of all time. The colorways are kind of weird, kind of ill. This shirt is a Chicago classic.

Staying with Chicago spots, St. Alfred, the boutique for Northsiders--with a far inferior shoe collection to Leaders--nonetheless has some pretty great ideas when it comes to flipping the Bulls and Bears logos. Check out this RATBULL joint that they did in collaboration with Huf:

I may be wrong, but it seems that No Mas is the O.G. of this sports/boutique shit. Dude seems to have a message, and I like his commitment to the concept of sports figures as anti-heros. Although mostly committed to baseball- and football-related joints, No Mas pays tribute to Clyde and Dream with this one. His graphics aren't as attractive as some, but his simplicity can be appreciated:

We've put this image up before on the blog. It's pretty ill. Over time, I have understood less and less what is so compelling about Iverson:Acapulco Gold

I was initially pretty geeked about these shirts, but--to no fault of the designer--am now a little turned off by the type of person I imagine sporting this. One major problems with a lot of these designers is that everything is an inside joke. A lot of these brands are less about fashion and style itself, and more about creating something that allows people to silently exclaim, "I am aware of this small dank corner of pop culture." All of these shirts do that to a certain extent, but this one more than the others.

AND THE WINNER IS...Undrcrwn is straight DOING IT. I highly recommend checking out their site for plenty more hoops-related joints. I've given you just a small sampling, but you get the idea. The Marbury BALLHOG t-shirt, the Nash MVP joint, and two of my absolute favorites from the Dynasty Collection (also available in Lakers, Celtics, and Michigan Fab 5). Sure, talk about a "meta-inside joke," but the shirts are just undeniable in the message they get across. These guys know their hoops and their designs are second to none.

i'm not really feeling the look of undrrrrcrrrrrwn, though i would fuck with this for sheer conceptual potency.

also, i know it makes no sense to list four on a basketball shirt, but at least one name on those always seems like a letdown. maybe i'm thinking too literally about the original, or maybe i don't appreciate the magic of a classic starting five. though in defense of my basketball instincts, there's generally at least one guy coming off the bench who you'd rather see on there than the fifth starter, personality-wise.

don't know if this was posted elsewhere but I thought if it wasn't it was FD material -

1. Hiding in plain sight. Lamar Odom wasn't sure he could continue playing after the death last summer of his 6½-month-old son, Jayden, a victim of sudden infant death syndrome, a catch-all phrase for babies who perish for no apparent reason.

Now he finds that playing offers the only sweet relief from mulling over why Jayden was taken from him. To that end, he iced down his sore right shin and strapped a soccer guard to it in order to log 18 minutes in an exhibition game against the Sonics.

"I woke up with a little attitude," he said. "I can't help but be moody sometimes. And I could've sat out with this little injury. But it's therapeutic to play."

He had a different form of therapy a few days after Jayden's funeral. He was at his house, still grieving while several people within his inner circle approached him about lending them money. To make a point, he took a wad of cash -- he won't say exactly how much -- and burned it.

"It was my way of trying to show what's important," he said.

While he still has two other children -- a daughter, Destiny, and a son, Lamar Jr. -- and wants to have more, he's not looking to forget Jayden. A crib remains in Odom's Marina del Rey house and photos of him fill Lamar's bedroom. Then there's the tattoo of a smiling Jayden over his heart, matching another on Odom's back of Cathy Mercer, the mother he lost at age 12. He's sure there is a purpose to those close to him being taken away, including his grandmother, Mildred Mercer, who died three years to the day before Jayden. He just isn't sure what it is, other than illustrating that being a professional athlete doesn't mean exemption from life's hardships.

"Some people have us as bigger-than-life figures," he says. "But who has the most assists or the most points, when it comes to life, that's not how God looks at us."

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